Posted on 08/15/2023 7:20:26 AM PDT by Twotone
The federal judge overseeing the 2020 presidential election case against former President Donald Trump raised the point last year that Trump was still “free” after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has overseen a number of cases against Jan. 6 rioters, made the observation while sentencing one of them in October, a revelation that comes as critics raise concerns about perceived bias in Chutkan's background.
“I see the footage of the flags and the signs that people were carrying and the hats they were wearing and the garb, and the people who mobbed that Capitol were there in fealty, in loyalty, to one man — not to the Constitution ... It's a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day,” Chutkan told defendant Christine Priola, according to court filings.
Chutkan sentenced Priola to 15 months in prison for obstruction of an official proceeding after Priola entered the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 and stood on a cabinet waving a sign that said “We the people take back our country.”
Priola had no criminal background, did not harm anyone or damage any property, and conveyed substantial remorse during the hearing, the court transcript shows.
Chutkan's sentencing aligned with a guideline range of 15 to 21 months in prison. The maximum sentence for the charge was 20 years in prison, and prosecutors had recommended 18 months.
Chutkan, who admitted she was relatively lenient with Priola, gained a reputation while sentencing dozens of rioters for being “one of the toughest punishers,” as described in an Associated Press report.
Trump has repeatedly called for Chutkan to recuse herself from his case and brought attention on Monday to her remarks on Priola specifically.
"The following TRUTH is a quote by the highly partisan Judge Tanya Chutkan, angrily sentencing a J-6er in October of 2022," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "She obviously wants me behind bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!"
Trump attorney John Lauro tempered Trump's recusal calls during an interview with David Markus a week ago, saying, “We haven’t made a final decision on that issue at all. I think as lawyers we have to be very careful of those issues and handle them with the utmost delicacy.”
Chutkan, for her part, has warned Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner, about his vocal objections to his prosecution, saying he must adhere to conditions of his pretrial release, which include not intimidating witnesses.
She said at the case's first hearing last week that she was unconcerned with how such conditions would affect his presidential campaign, noting, "If that means he can't say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, that's how it has to be."
Trump also shared a statement Sunday on Truth Social from a GOP strategist in which the strategist called Chutkan an "Obama leftwing activist judge" who "openly admitted she's running election interference against Trump."
Neal Katyal, the acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama, speculated in a statement online that Trump elevating the remark on his social media may lead to Chutkan calling a hearing to address his Truth Social posts as possible violations of the judicial process.
Bless her heart
Even more reason to lock up the orange man because the judge is biased against him. So let’s double down and convict him 😉
She doesn’t have one, unless it’s working in favor of liberal Democrats.
The Judge will be the one interfering in this trial
But she’ll make sure Trump will have a fair trial. (/sarc)
Intermediate, fair trial. After all it took three years to Trump opposite charges against him. So the trial should happen immediately it all venues. Let’s tie Trump up so he doesn’t have time to campaign. Yep, that’s the winning ticket for the rat party. 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀
Yep. We’ll be the laughing stock of all those 3d world countries.
She could not be more conflicted, anyone can see it. Not one word from anyone who matters. Roberts would be the one to step because the DC Court falls under him. Trump is doomed.
Recusal
Joe Biden brags about having “the most extensive and inclusive VOTER FRAUD organization” in history.
Yeah, she has no business being a judge or being in the legal profession at all.
Delicacy??? He should be fighting tooth and nail!
The Supreme Court should be lowering the hammer on these COMMUNISTS...
The Demo rats ain’t gonna stop until Trump is dead & the Republican party still thinks that Democrats are a loyal opposition & all they are willing to do in opposition is suck DNC Donkey Dick!! These idiots are only good at/for that!!!
I’m not saying this would be cure-all for government corruption, but maybe natural-born citizenry should be a requirement for Federal judges and members of Congress, in addition to Presidents.
In 2017, a woman sued conservative actor, James Woods, for misidentifying her as a Nazi in an allegedly libelous tweet. The tweet included a photo not of her but of a different woman giving a Nazi salute while wearing a Donald Trump t-shirt at a campaign event.
The court ruled in favor of Woods under the “innocent construction rule.” She appealed, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the ruling.
The “innocent construction rule” requires courts to consider a written or oral statement in context, giving the words, and their implications, their natural and obvious meaning.
If a statement may reasonably be interpreted innocently, it cannot be actionable per se. [Republic Tobacco Co. v. N. Atl. Trading Co., 381 F.3d 717, 726-727 (7th Cir. Ill. 2004)]
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